Great Good Indeed
by Aniiksa
Summary: Lina ponders her motives, the Sword of Light, and the words of a great sage... LG WAFFyness


Great Good Indeed ...

Author's Note: I thought I should say this before I started – just to make things absolutely clear. I have heard that Mellyroon is definitely NOT related to Gourry (although if anybody does have a copy of the interview or whatever where Kanzaka actually said that, I would be really interested to read it), but when I first had the idea for this fanfic, I was under the impression that she was Gourry's great-grandmother (or thereabouts, give or take a few 'greats'). I have decided to leave this idea as is, because I'm stubborn.   
So please, I would really appreciate it if people refrain from informing me that I'm wrong – I already know that I am.

Also, I have chosen to pick and choose between the subbed and dubbed dialogue in the movie – blasphemous I know, but I have developed a habit of watching both versions and simply ignoring the dialogue I like least out of the two. (Although generally, I will admit, I do prefer the sub). I also use dialogue from the manga. Almost in the same manner as the sub/dub situation, I do have an annoying habit of mixing together situations from the anime, manga and novels (sometimes without realising it – it's taken me by surprise every now and then, when I watch the anime and find that certain things I was _sure_ had happened, hadn't (but had in either the novels or the manga).) ... And now I'm rambling.

Enough from me – I never realised I would have to make so many excuses for this story before I had even begun...

-

The moon was nearing fullness and hung large in the sky on this balmy summer night, bathing the scenery in a shimmering, milky glow. Its brightness highlighted two figures and a small, makeshift campsite on the side of a gently sloping hill. The larger of these figures was sprawled out on the ground and the other, far smaller figure was sitting, shifting restlessly, sighing every now and then and casting surreptitious glances at its sleeping partner.

Lina Inverse was wide awake. Sleep had been difficult to come by since the battle with Darkstar and Valgaav, and she had found her overactive imagination dredging up more and more incidents from the past. The thought that confronted her most often was the glaring problem of the Sword of Light, or rather, the lack of it. 

Although she knew deep down in her heart that she had stopped 'following the Sword' a long time ago, it was still a convenient facade – an easily available excuse that she could use to block any probing questions about the two travellers' relationship with each other. She blushed deeply as she remembered some of the hasty denials she had blurted out in the past:

"That's not it! He has something valuable of mine that ... I have to get back. I don't love him!"

"Of course I'm worried! After all, I want to make sure I get the Sword of Light! You saw how powerful it is!"

"You can have Gourry! Just give me his sword! ... Please?"

The blush grew darker when she recalled that last comment – Gourry had told her later that he had heard everything she  
had said whilst he had been under the other sorceress's spell. Her mortification at the time had been immense, and it had been weeks before she had forgiven herself for it – although she had the sneaking suspicion that Gourry had let the matter drop almost as soon as he had confronted her about it. He was like that.  
Now that the Sword was gone, Lina no longer had that comfortable, safe excuse to fall back on in public, and she felt a little as though one of her defensive barriers had been stripped away.  
She had been surprised, to say the least, when Gourry had so willingly given up the Sword of Light to Sirius. At the time she had felt slighted in a way – hurt that he would so easily give up his 'family heirloom' to an almost complete stranger, when he had consistently refused to give it to her, even after all the nagging and begging and pleading that she had gone through over the years. After thinking it over for a day or two, she had gradually come to realise why he had done it, and the hurt had lessened slightly.She found her mind absently drifting back to another, similar, occasion four or five years previously – the image of a short boy with floppy blue hair, trying to wrest the Sword of Light out of her hands whilst she steadily tugged back:

"Oh come on Rowdy! Don't be greedy!"

That in itself puzzled her. How in the Name of the Nine Hells had Gourry got his hands on the Sword of Light when Rowdy had been so reluctant to part with it...? How...

... Rowdy Gabriev! Of course! As the realisation dawned on her Lina could have slapped herself for being so uncharacteristically unobservant – not only had Gourry been in possession of the Sword of Light, 'passed down through his family for generations', there had also been the tiny hint of his distinctive surname! How had she missed it?  
Lina let her eyes wander over the contours of Gourry's sleeping face. Now that she looked closely, and knew what she was looking for, there was absolutely no question about Gourry's lineage – strong, yet delicate bone structure, slightly slanted eyes and ears that, if you looked at them carefully enough, were just a touch pointier than the average human's. Along with his vaguely elven features, there was almost no mistaking his likeness to Rowdy...

... Which meant that by travelling backwards in time, preventing Joyrock from destroying the elven village on Mipross and reuniting Rowdy and Mellyroon, she had effectively brought about Gourry's existence. And to think that she had been so close to refusing! The only reason she had even agreed to help Rowdy was because he had told her about that 'Fountain of Growth' ... which had all been a nasty trick! 

Lina found herself growling under her breath, and she forced herself to breathe normally, calm down and think more closely about the situation. What was it the old man had said to her?  
"When you've grown as old as I am, you can see just a bit into the near future. So even though this is a request from me, it has a lot to do with you as well..."

At the time, she had brushed this off as part of Rowdy's feeble attempt to engage her compassion, but now she found herself turning the words over and over again in her head – was that what he had seen? Could he have been talking about her meeting Gourry? The more she thought about it, the more it made sense – if she had refused to help Rowdy, the repercussions could have been phenomenal... even though she had never wanted to admit it to herself before, Gourry had saved her life any number of times - starting when, only a few days after they had met, she had been attacked by the monster Zorom whilst on the run with Zel...

Lina felt sick. A deep, painful ache grew in her chest as the full horror of the situation hit her, and her breathing became quick and shallow. Details sank in, bit-by-bit, slotting jigsaw-like into place to form a huge, terrifying picture...

If she had refused to save Mellyroon and the elves from Joyrock, Rowdy would have spent his entire life pining for his elven sweetheart, in solitude, on the island of Mipross, she knew that much – she had seen it happen, before she had changed the past...  
So the Gabriev family line would have ended there, and Gourry would never have been born...  
So Gourry would never have existed to save her from Zorom by suddenly appearing with the Sword of Light...  
So she would have been dead, and as such not there to cast the Giga Slave on Shabranigdo (although, for that matter, she had used the Sword of Light there, too – yet another piece of the overall jigsaw puzzle that would have been missing) ...  
So Shabranigdo would have grown more and more powerful, awakening all the other parts of his being and eventually throwing the world into chaos...  
So if Gourry had not been there to 'save' her from those bandits – whether he had existed or not – even if they had simply never met, the world would have been destroyed within a matter of weeks. Her breath hitched in the back of her throat and for the second time in as many moments, she forced herself to calm down, to breathe steadily. 

Focusing on the rising panic within her she suppressed it firmly and set about putting her thoughts straight. She _had_ helped Rowdy, so she _had_ met Gourry, and so the world was safe. Gourry existed. She had spent three years with the overprotective blonde jellyfish, with him through good times and bad times, through panic and terror, bandit camps and fireballs. Through fun, adventure and really wild things. She had risked the world for him, and he in turn had protected her unflinchingly, true to his promise. And of course, every now and then, there was an interestingly tense moment...An indulgent smile slowly crept across her lips. Now that she really thought about it, maybe it was about time she stopped using the Sword as an excuse. Maybe if she showed Gourry just how she felt about him, he might grow to feel the same way too, eventually. After all, she told herself, she _was_ the beautiful Lina Inverse - sorcery genius supreme in a conveniently compact package... Yeah, right. 

Sighing, she brought her legs up to her chest and rested her forehead on her knees. Years of hearing people refer to her as a scrawny kid had taken an obvious toll on her self-confidence, although outwardly she would never admit to such a thing. Yes, she loved Gourry, she was sure of that, but he had made it perfectly clear that he found her unattractive – she had lost track of the searingly painful moments when he had taken it upon himself to comment on her height or the flatness of her chest.

Gourry murmured something unintelligible in his sleep, rolling onto his back, and Lina glanced down at him fondly, her heart swelling involuntarily.   
Leaning across impulsively, she planted a delicate, tender kiss on his slightly parted lips. As she drew back again, the corners of his mouth turned up in a blissful smile and her eyes widened as he mumbled her name and rolled over onto his side again, one hand stretched out towards her. He had said her name! Not Sylphiel's, not anyone else's… _Hers_! She was certain of her feelings for him, but could it really be possible that he already felt ... the same way as she did? 

Finally, stretching out next to Gourry and biting her lip nervously, she bravely reached out her hand and clasped his, her first tentative step into outward acceptance of her feelings. She gasped as Gourry's fingers tightened warmly and protectively around her far smaller hand, and once again he murmured her name in his sleep. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she decided that she very much liked it when he said her name like that – now if only he would do it whilst he was awake!   
She spent several minutes staring at him, feeling the calloused skin of his hand over hers; it was one of the few times she had touched him whilst not wearing her gloves, and she found that the feel of skin on skin was leading her mind down avenues of thought that were distinctly un-Lina-like. Resisting the urge to pull her hand away and douse herself in cold water, Lina instead rolled onto her side and shifted closer to Gourry, growing bolder and moulding herself to the contours of his body.  
She was taking a chance, she knew – if Gourry really found her as repulsive as her damaged self-confidence said he did, then she might risk driving him away, but there was something in the way he was holding onto her hand; tightly, as though if he let go she might fly away, that gave her a glimmer of hope. She began to formulate a plan.

In the morning, Gourry would awaken to find Lina pressed tightly against his side, their hands clasped, her chin resting on his shoulder. He would stir, his eyes would widen in surprise and he would wonder how to extricate himself without waking Lina up, thinking they had become entangled accidentally in the night. Then, Lina would open her eyes, raise her head and gaze adoringly at him, smiling winningly. The way she saw it, Gourry had two possible options: He would either immediately press her close and welcome her kiss like a dying man embracing salvation, or he would leap away from her screaming. Whatever happened, she would deal with it. It was either that or come up with a new excuse, one that would replace the Sword of Light as a convenient deny-all.

She shifted slightly so that her head was close to his, resting her chin on his shoulder as planned and noting that this position felt natural, almost as if people were designed to fit together this nicely. His arm was slightly in the way, though, and she found that it was impossible for her to get any closer to him without his elbow jamming into her stomach, but she was far too reluctant to let go of his hand to reposition it. Arranging herself into what she felt was an attractive position, she closed her eyes and quashed the whining voice of her self-confidence as it told her that her plan would never work, instead concentrating on the delicious memory of Gourry huskily murmuring her name.

Lina Inverse, sorcery genius, sighed contentedly as she felt a luxurious, warming lethargy seep through her body. For the first time in weeks, she finally felt at peace, surrounded by Gourry's warmth, his scent, his… arms! Her eyes snapped open and she squeaked as he turned in his sleep and, letting go of her hand, pulled her close to him in a tight embrace. 

Well, there went her carefully constructed plan! 

Frowning, she studied his face, looking for any signs of wakefulness. Seeing none, Lina pillowed her head on his arm, still staring at him and noticing that his mouth was now set in a contented smile; one that echoed the way she was feeling. Lina suppressed a grin – she was now certain that her plan would work. This was probably a far better position for Gourry to find them in, anyway…

And maybe, she admitted to herself as her tired eyes took in every last detail of Gourry's beautiful face in the moonlight, just maybe her disappointment over the Fountain of Growth was not quite so important anymore. 

She had gained something far more special...

-

Another Author's Note!  
Reviews are most welcome, naturally. This fic is full of clichés, I know, but everyone needs a little WAFFy-ness every now and then! I wrote this originally because I felt that I had to investigate Lina's reaction to realising that everything she did on Mipross Island had changed her future, and brought about Gourry. Then the Sword of Light wanted in, and I explored her reaction to losing her 'excuse', too, and it steadily became a L/G ficlet. It's all been done before, I know, but hopefully I did it a little differently.

Many thanks to Caitlin, who beta-read this for me. Hugs and kisses to you, m'lovely!


End file.
